Preserved meat products - Sausages
Hei Hei!! 🫐🌿
This is Lily and hope you are doing great.
My second blog is going to be about preserved meat products, and getting know little more about how traditional Norwegian foods by making use of as much as possible of an animal.
I took this opportunity, and I decided to make 'cured sausages' with pork.
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Before getting into the recipe, a few information about Norwegian meat preservation culture may be needed:
Norway has a deep-rooted tradition of preserving meat, which dates back to the country’s harsh climate and long winters. Before refrigeration, Norwegians developed various methods to make meat last through the cold months. Fresh food was scarce, so meat had to be preserved during the autumn slaughter to survive until spring.
Norway’s geography, cold, mountainous, and with limited farmland, made preservation essential. Farmers and fishers slaughtered animals in autumn, when it was cold enough to preserve meat naturally. Methods like salting, drying, smoking, and fermenting were crucial for survival. The dry, cold climate was ideal for air-drying meat naturally, without spoilage (Eupedia).
Over time, these techniques became part of culinary heritage, linked to festivals and celebrations (especially Christmas and Easter).
"Another type of Norwegian dish was those traditionally served at special occasions and feasts. These include cabbage and mutton stew, stew, cured lamb ribs, cured meats, cured leg of lamb, sheep's head, sour cream porridge, lutefisk, cod, salmon, potato dumplings, clip fish and bacalao"
(Roos, Hansen, & Skuland, 2016).
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Ingredients and Equipments that needs to be ready:
*Recipes below are inspired by "Go'biter fra besta si kokebok", modified and rewrite by Erik Fooladi in 2011.
Ingredients:
900g minced pork
One small-sized onion (36g this time)
10g margarin
One tablespoon salt
One small tablespoon pepper
One and half teaspoons allspice (spice mix of Taco this time)
One tablespoon ginger (to taste)
Edible sausage casing (about 3m this time)
Equipment:
Meat grinder
Large bowls
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Measuring spoons
Yarn / string
Apron
Plastic gloves
Needle (if possible)
– Photo by Lily <Photo of ingredients and equipments>
Before starting;
・Do not forget to clean your hands
・Wear apron and gloves
– Photo by Lily <Photo of summarised procedures>
- Wash or rinse the casings throughly in cold water
If necessary leave them in water for an hour or more before use
*WHY: Wet and flexible casings slides smoothly onto sausage stuffer tube and expand evenly as it fills, compared to dried ones.
- Cut the onion as small pieces as possible
- Separate ground minced meats
- Mix margarin, onions, minced meats and other ingredients (salt, pepper, allspice and ginger)
(In this case, grind with hands until it all mixed)
- Run it through the grinder machine and stuff the sausages using machines
- To avoid air pockets, needle can be used to have a small hole on sausage
- If sausages stuffed until ideal length, each casing needs to be tie hardly with the yarn and continue afterwards until the bowl is empty
- Label dates and names
- At the point casing ends, hang it up at dry area (around 20-26℃) for about 2-3 days for slightly cured taste
- After 2-3 days, put it in the freezer and store it
Evaluation of my products
*Not tasted yet, not finished with drying process
– Photo by Lily <Photo of final product, before it completely dried out>
Instead of simply following existing recipes, we were able to create a product that was our own unique adaptation, ensuring it was sufficient in both budget and quantity. Since it requires several days of drying, we are not able to guarantee the taste, but we diligently followed all the steps and carefully checked the types and quantities of ingredients, so we have high hopes for the finished product. As a student, opportunities to make meat dishes from scratch are rare, so I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking process.
Big appreciation to my classmates, Anna Horvath and Rita Lima who helped me so much.
Evaluation of my working progress
I never expected to be making meat dishes in Norway, so I'm grateful for the opportunity to actually make cured meat products. The ingredients and tools required are quite simple, but since a meat grinder is necessary, I don't think this is a recipe that can be easily made in a typical home kitchen. However, I never thought it would be possible to make simple sausages from scratch in such a short time, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. This time, I collaborated with several classmates to prepare the sausages, and I feel that by working together, we were able to proceed with the production more efficiently and using reliable procedures. Unlike the previous jam-making experience, having someone experienced nearby eliminated the risk of proceeding with uncertain steps, and most importantly, we were able to enjoy cooking while communicating with each other. By discussing in advance the necessary quantities of ingredients and the details of the modified recipe, we developed a sense of responsibility for what we were making and wanted to see it through to completion.
Bibliography
Eupedia. Norwegian cuisine – Norway travel guide. (2025). https://eupedia.com/norway/norwegian_cuisine.shtml
Fooladi, Førstelektor, Oral lecture, October 18th, 2025
Lyster, I., & Hatløy, O. M. (2012). Goʹbitar frå besta si kokebok: Tradisjonsmat frå Sunnmøre. Sanseleg forlag
Roos, G. M., Hansen, K. V., & Skuland, A. V. (2016). Consumers, Norwegian food and belonging: A qualitative study. British Food Journal, 118(10), p.2363. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-01-2016-0041
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